Semi-automatic bullet seating device



22, 1967 J, E. LESTER, JR 3,336,830

SEMI-AUTOMATIC BULLET SEATING DEVICE] Filed Oct. 5, 1965 2 Sheets-Shea 1 Aug. 22, 1967 SEMI-AUTOMATIC BULLET SEATING DEVICE Filed Oct. 5, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1.5 LESTER, JR 3,33 ,83

In] I 544 .92 Y III f INVENTOR ATTORNEKS a g mfg/MM United States Patent Cfitice 3,336,830 Patented Aug. 22, 1967 3,336,830 SEMI-AUTOMATIC BULLET SEATING DEVICE Jack E. Lester, Jr., 212 W. Livingston Place, Metairie, La. 70005 Filed Oct. 5, 1965, Ser. No. 493,161 8 Claims. (CI. 86-43) This invention relates to cartridge loading apparatus, and more particularly to a device which facilitates the task of the reloading of bullets in small arms cartridge cases.

It is well known among sportsmen and small arms enthusiasts that the expense of the small arms cartridges, particularly cartridges of the center-fire type, make reloading of used cartridge casings a desirable, if not necessary, practice. Normally, a casing may be reloaded a number of times, with a new primer, powder charge and bullet being replaced during each reloading operation, at a considerable saving over the cost of new cartridges.

Various tools have long been on the market to aid the hand-loader in the various aspects of the reloading operation. However, no single part of this operation has proven more tedious and troublesome than the reloading and reseating of the bullet in the expanded, open end of the cartridge casing. The prior tools available to the reloader have either proven too slow, requiring almost complete manual alignment of the bullet and cartridge, or, when some speed has been achieved, too complicated and expensive to enable the reloader to achieve any real economy over the purchase of new cartridges, except where great numbers of cases are to be reloaded. In addition, many of these latter tools are adapted to handle only a single caliber of bullet.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bullet feeding device to be used in association with a bullet seating die of any desired caliber.

It is another object of the present invention to provide apparatus for economically increasing the speed at which small arms cartridge cases may be refitted with bullets.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a semiautomatic bullet feeding device which will facilitate and increase the rate at which small arms cartridges can be reloaded with a common type of bullet seating apparatus.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a bullet feeding device which, upon actuation by an operator, automatically injects an oriented bullet into a bullet seating die for subsequent engagement with, and seating in, a cartridge casing carried by a movable member of the die apparatus.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description, or will be in the appended claims hereto, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side sectional elevational view of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a partial sectional view of the invention taken along lines 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG- URE 1, but showing a bullet about to be contacted by the injection plunger of the present invention.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional View, similar to FIGURE 3, showing the bullet of FIGURE 3 being driven by the plunger.

FIGURE 5 is another sectional view, similar to FIG- URES 3 and 4, wherein the bullet is entering the die.

FIGURE 6 is a partial elevational view, also in section, of a modified magazine portion of the invention.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, FIG- URE 1 illustrates, in cross section, a bullet seating die 10 which is, or may be, of common construction. The die has an interior chamber 12 which is adapted to receive, and conform to the dimensions of, a center fire cartridge casing. The upper portion of the chamber 12 comprises a bore 14 of uniform diameter, which opens to the outside at the upper surface of the die body. This bore 14 is threaded at its upper end to receive an adjustable screw member 16 which may be disposed at various longitudinal positions along the length of the bore 14. The interior end 18 of the adjustable member 16 is recessed to provide a rigid stop for the tip of a bullet during the seating process.

Normally, during the bullet seating operation, the die body 10 is held firmly fixed by means (not shown) supporting the adjustable collar 22. A cartridge casing 24, which vhas already been provided with a new primer and the desired powder charge, is carried by a socket 26 which is movable, usually by the lever actuated by the operator, so that the cartridge casing 24 may be moved longitudinally into and out of the chamber 12 of the die body 10. In some types of prior reloading apparatus it has generally been necessary for the operator to precariously balance a bullet above the open mouth of the cartridge casing, held in a vertical position, and then to move the cartridge support 26 vertically into the die chamber 12, thereby causing the bullet to align itself as it passes upward through the narrowing chamber 12 and bore, and thus seat itself Within the neck of the casing 24 as its upward movement is halted by contact with the recessed end 18 of the member 16.

In the present invention, there is provided an additional housing A which may be adapted to be securely attached to the die body 10 as shown in the drawings, or which may be integrally formed with the die body 10. This housing A is provided with a first bore 32 open to the outside of the housing A. At the inner end of the bore 32 is a slot 34 within which slides a plunger head 36. The plunger head 36 is provided with a handle member 38 which extends outwardly through the bore 32 and a knob 40 at the outer end of the handle which permits easy grasping and movement of the plunger. A casing 42 is adapted to be attached to the housing and extend outwardly from the bore 32, thereby providing a restraining wall against which the compression spring 44 may abut and bias the plunger head 36 in a forward direction. Of course, the forward travel of the plunger Within the slot 34 is limited by the abutment of the knob 40 against the outer end surface of the casing 42.

A second slot 46, corresponding generally to the dimensions of the slot 34, is provided through the wall 48 of the die body 10 intermediate the ends of the chamber 12, and the housing A is arranged so that the plunger head 36 may travel on into this second slot, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. However, while the sides and top of the slot 46 may be straight, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, respectively, the bottom surface 50 of the slot should be inclined downwardly into the die body, for purposes to be explained more fully hereinafter. The slots 34 and 46, as well as the plunger head 36, should be wider than the diameter of the largest caliber bullet which would be reloaded inthe die.

The housing A is provided with a second bore 54 which intersects the slot 34 adjacent to the area of the slot 46. The bore 54 is adapted to retain bullets 56, 56" oriented with their tips upward when the housing A and die body 10 are assembled for operation. In order that a number of bullets may be fed to the die in succession, the bore 54 preferably is supplied with a tubular magazine extension 58 which may be secured to the housing A by means of a threaded recess 60 at the mouth of the bore 54.

Alternatively, the modification shown in FIGURE 6 may be employed rather than the single tubular magazine depicted in FIGURE 1. This modified form contemplates a plurality of magazines 64 mounted at equal distances from the center of a rotating member 66 so that each of the magazines can, successively, be caused to register with the bore 54. Thus, as a magazine is emptied, the operator need merely turn the member 66 about the pivot 68 until a different magazine moves into alignment with the bore 54. The bottoms of the magazines are open, and, in order to insure that the bullets 56", 56" stay within the magazines, a fixed plate 70 is provided on top of the housing A to close the magazines and thereby support the bullets. The plate 70 has an opening 72, however, which is maintained in register with bore 54 so that as a magazine comes over that opening, the bullets therein may pass down into the bore.

Whether a single magazine or a plurality of magazines is employed, the magazine in registry with bore 54 must be adapted so that bullets therein are urged toward the slot 34. As shown and described herein, thebore 54 and magazines are verticaly disposed so that the bullets fall toward the slot by gravity. However, it is also contemplated that the bullets may be positively biassed toward the slot by some means, such as a compressed spring within the magazine, whether the bore and magazine are vertical in operation or not.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the plunger head 36, when biased to its forward position, substantially occupies the slotted region 46 in the die wall 48. As indicated hereinabove, the sides of the plunger head are flat so as to conform to the walls of the slot 46, but the frontal surfaces of the plunger are angular, having an upper inclined face 80 and a lower inclined face 82. When the forward portions of the plunger head 36 are disposed within the slot 46, the rearward portions thereof substantially fill the slot 34 and thereby close the bore 54 and prevent any of the bullets 56, 56' and 56" from entering the passageway, formed by slots 34 and 46, to the die chamber 12.

The bore 54 must be of a suffiuient diameter that it too will accommodate bullets of the largest caliber, usually 30 caliber, which the operator will desire to load. However, since the bullets within the bore 54 must pass successively into slot 34, it must not be so wide that more than one bullet will enter at a time, nor may it be so wide that a bullet might twist or turn sideways during its brief drop to the bottom of the slot 34. The relative dimensions of the bores and slot, therefore, while not precisely critical, should be maintained within limits in order to satisfy the objects of this invention. Those limits will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the operation of the invention.

Operation Before the reloading of the first cartridge case, the adjustable screw 16 must be set to provide a suitable stop for the particular size and type of bullet being reloaded. The bullets to be reloaded may be fed into the top of the tubular magazine 58, being inserted so that their tips or noses each point upward. Thus, the bullets travel both through the magazine 58 and the bore 54 in the orientation shown in FIGURE 2. The bottom-most bullet within the bore 54 will, due to the fact that the plunger is normaly biassed forwardly, come to rest with its base resting on the fiat surface of the plunger head 36. When a suitably primed and charged cartridge casing, secured to the casing socket 26, is partially inserted into the chamber 12 (see FIGURE 1), the operator need merely pull back on the handle 40 thus retracting the plunger head 36 and permitting one bullet 56 to fall so that its base engages the bottom of the slot 34 (see FIG- URE 3). Immediately, the operator can release the knob 40 and the spring 44 will again drive the plunger head forwardly in the direction of the bullet and the slot 46.

Contact with the bullet will be made by the point of the plunger 36, and, since the upper portion of the bullet is restrained from any substantial lateral movement by the wall 90 of the housing A, and by the wall section 92 of the die body 10, the lower portion of the bullet will tend to be carried at an angle by the inclined face of the plunger into the region of the slot 46, (see FIG- URE 4). The proper movement of the bullet during the period might be improved by beveling the lower edge of wall and the adjacent region 92 of die wall 48, so as to provide an inclined surface corresponding to the surface 50. However, if the bottom portion of the Wall 90 is simply removed, as shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, so that the lower edge thereof terminates above the edge of the wall portion 92, a very acceptable movement of the bullet may be achieved. In either case, the upper walls 90 and 92 effectively angle outwardly so that the nose of the bullet may move only slightly laterally without being pinched or turned completely sideways within the slot 46. Further forward movement of the plunger, and the additional force downward upon the bullet 56 from the weight of the bullets 56' and 56 still within the bore 54 and the magazine 52, cause the bullet to move further into the slot area 46 (see FIGURE 5), until it slides or falls past the surface 50 into the chamber 12 of the die body. The bullet will continue into the chamber until the base of the bullet engages with and rests on the neck of the cartridge casing 24 which occupies the lower portion of the chamber 12. As the plunger 36 completes its travel, the head 36 substantially fills the area bounded by the slot 46 and (see FIGURE 2), as the carriage 26 and the cartridge 24 are driven upward into the die body, the lower frontal face 82 of the plunger 36 provides a smooth, inclined surface against which the tip of the bullet can slide on the start of its upward travel to thus better align itself with respect to the chamber 12 and the cartridge 24. It should also be noted that the bullet 56 partially supports the bullet 56' and 56 within the bore 54 until the plunger has moved sufiiciently to close the bore 54 and prevent more than one bullet, 56, from entering the slot 34. The bullet 56 then rests upon the top surface of the plunger in a position to drop into the slot 34 when the plunger is again retracted.

As the bullet proceeds through the upper portions of the chamber 12 and into the bore 14, it achieves final alignment with the neck of the cartridge 24 in the usual manner, and proper seating is effected when the nose of the bullet abuts against the stop 18 of the member 16. Then, when seating has been completed, the entire cartridge may be retracted by the movable socket 26 in the usual manner, and a second cartridge casing may replace it and be moved into position for reloading.

The operation described above can then be repeated without the necessity for any additional handling of the bullet to be loaded into the casing. Of course, any number of cartridges can be quickly and conveniently reloaded in the described manner, the number being limited only by the capacity of the bore 54 and tubular magazine 58.

While the particular apparatus shown herein and described in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing'the advantages hereinabove stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, and that no limitations are intended to be placed upon the details of construction other than as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for loading bullets into cartridge casings, comprising: a bullet seating die having a longitudinal chamber for receiving a casing and a bullet to be seated therein, means for retaining a plurality of bullets for successive entry into said die chamber, means defining an angular passageway for conveying bullets successively from said retaining means into said longitudinal die chamber intermediate the ends of said longitudinal chamber, and means for moving bullets successively through said passageway from said retaining means into said longitudinal die chamber so that each bullet may engage a cartridge casing within the confines of said die chamber for seating therein.

2. Apparatus for delivering bullets into the chamber ofa bullet seating die, comprising: means for retaining a plurality of bullets for successively feeding into the chamber of a bullet seating die, means defining a passageway communicating said bullet retaining means with the interior of said bullet seating die, and plunger means for injecting a single bullet from said bullet retaining means into the chamber of said bullet seating die, said plunger means being provided with a forward surface thereof adapted to guide. said bullet into said chamber in proper oriented relation and a second forward surface adapted to assist in aligning said bullet within said chamber for proper seating relation, whereby said bullet engages a cartridge casing within said die chamber in operable relation for seating therein.

3. Apparatus for loading bullets into cartridge cases, comprising: a bullet seating die having a longitudinal chamber for successively receiving a casing and a bullet to be seated therein, a housing joined to said bullet seating die, means carried by said housing for retaining a plurality of bullets for successive entry into said longitudinal die chamber, means defining a passageway for conveying bullets successively from said retaining means into said longitudinal die chamber intermediate the ends of said chamber, plunger means carried by said housing and adapted for sliding movement within said passageway, said plunger means being operable for moving bullets succesively through said passageway from said re taining means into said longitudinal die chamber, said plunger means also including an upper inclined surface adapted to guide bullets within said passageway into said die chamber and a lower inclined surface adapted to partially align bullets within said die chamber prior to the seating of said bullets in cartridge casings within said die chamber.

4. Apparatus for loading bullets into cartridge cases, comprising: a bullet seating die having a longitudinal chamber for successively receiving a casing and a bullet to be seated therein, a housing joined to said bullet seating die, means carried by said housing for retaining a plurality of bullets for successive entry into said longitudinal die chamber, means defining a passageway for conveying bullets successively from said retaining means into said longitudinal die chamber intermediate the ends of said die chamber, said passageway defining means including an inclined surface interior of said seating die for guiding bullets from said passageway into said die chamber in pre-determined oriented relation, and means carried by said housing for moving bullets successively through said passageway from said retaining means into said longitudinal die chamber.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said means for moving bullets comprises plunger means including a lower inclined surface adapted to assist in aligning bullets within said die chamber prior to the seating of a bullet in a cartridge casing.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said means for moving bullets comprises plunger means including an upper inclined surface adapted to cooperate with said inclined surface interior of said seating die to guide bullets within said passageway into said die chamber.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said means for moving bullets comprises plunger means including an upper inclined surface adapted to assist in guiding bullets within said passageway into said die chamber and a lower inclined surface adapted to assist in aligning bullets within said die chamber prior to the seating of a bullet in a cartridge casing.

8. Apparatus for delivering bullets into the chamber of a bullet seating die, comprising: means for retaining a plurality of bullets for successive feeding into the chamber of a bullet seating die, means defining a passageway communicating said bullet retaining means with the interior of said bullet seating die, plunger means for injecting a single bullet from said bullet retaining means into the chamber of said bullet seating die, said plunger means including a plurality of forward surfaces adapted to guide said bullet into said die chamber and to assist in aligning said bullet within said chamber, whereby said bullet may engage a cartridge casing within said die chamber in operable relation for seating therein.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,002,415 10/1961 Hoyer 10/ 1963 Schlappich 8638 

2. APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING BULLETS INTO THE CHAMBER OF A BULLET SEATING DIE, COMPRISING: MEANS FOR RETAINING A PLURALITY OF BULLETS FOR SUCCESSIVELY FEEDING INTO THE CHAMBER OF A BULLET SEATING DIE, MEANS DEFINING A PASSAGEWAY COMMUNICATING SAID BULLET FROM SAID BULLET RETAINING MEANS INTERIOR OF SAID BULLET SEATING DIE, AND PLUNGER MEANS FOR INJECTING A SINGLE BULLET FROM SAI D BULLET RETAINING MEANS INTO THE CHAMBER OF SAID BULLET SEATING DIE, SAID PLUNGER MEANS BEING PROVIDED WITH A FORWARD SURFACE THEREOF ADAPTED TO GUIDE SAID BULLET INTO SAID CHAMBER IN PROPER ORIENTED RELATION AND A SECOND FORWARD SURFACE ADAPTED TO ASSIST IN ALIGNING SAID BULLET WITHIN SAID CHAMBER FOR 